Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA. Purchase of Miss Helen Clay Frick
2016.1.13
Battista Sforza
circa 1911 – 1948 (Date created)
Tempera
Painting
Paintings
20 in L
x
15 in W
(Image)
Russian;Italian
Painted after Piero della Francesca's portrait of Battista Sforza (after 1474). The original portraits were mounted in a double frame and show the profiles of the man and woman face to face. These works were never finished. (Related to 2016.12 - Frederico Da Montefeltro)
Nicholas Lochoff (d. 1948)/ after/ Piero della Francesca (Umbrian, 1415-1492)/ FEDERICO DA MONTEFELTRO AND BATTISTA SFORZA/ Originals (after 1474) in the Uffizi Florence/ Tempera on wood panel/ The original portraits are mounted together in a double frame, and show Federico as Duke of Urbino, a rank that he achieved in 1474, and his wife. His misshapen nose is the result of a sword fight which also took his right eye. Behind him stretches the landscape of the area he ruled. His wife's likeness was done from a bust or a death mask, as she had died in 1472 after giving birth to their son Guidobaldo in the city of Gubbio, which is represented behind her. The reverses of the panels in the Uffizi show the couple with their allegorical Virtues. Lochoff never finished these portraits, and thus they demonstrate his tempera on wood technique.
Painted in Urbino, probably about 1465, the pair of portraits, each of which has an allegorical Triumph painted on its reverse side, remained in the Ducal Palace of Urbino until 1631 when they were taken to the Pitti Palace in Florence as part of the dowry of Vittoria della Rovere. They were removed to the Uffizi Gallery in 1773. These two panels which Lochoff never completely give an insight into the technical process. The originals are placed face to face in a double frame (Walter Read Hovey, The Nicholas Lochoff Cloister of The Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building, 1965).
Painted in Urbino, probably about 1465, the pair of portraits, each of which has an allegorical Triumph painted on its reverse side, remained in the Ducal Palace of Urbino until 1631 when they were taken to the Pitti Palace in Florence as part of the dowry of Vittoria della Rovere. They were removed to the Uffizi Gallery in 1773. These two panels which Lochoff never completely give an insight into the technical process. The originals are placed face to face in a double frame (Walter Read Hovey, The Nicholas Lochoff Cloister of The Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building, 1965).
In Collection
Purchased by Miss Helen Clay Frick for the University of Pittsburgh (1959-present)
Boris Lochoff (until 1959).
By 1917 Lochoff had only finished and sent back to his home country 8 of these paintings. That same year there was a revolution in Russia. Lochoff was therefore stranded in Italy and cut off from the support previously provided by the Moscow Museum of Art. He was forced to sell the remaining paintings to other buyers. These buyers included Harvard University, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. After Lochoff's death, Helen Clay Frick, the woman who started the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and donated the Frick Fine Arts building to the University, acquired this collection with the help of critic and connoisseur, Bernard Berenson. She then donated it to the University of Pittsburgh to adorn the walls of this cloister.
Boris Lochoff (until 1959).
By 1917 Lochoff had only finished and sent back to his home country 8 of these paintings. That same year there was a revolution in Russia. Lochoff was therefore stranded in Italy and cut off from the support previously provided by the Moscow Museum of Art. He was forced to sell the remaining paintings to other buyers. These buyers included Harvard University, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. After Lochoff's death, Helen Clay Frick, the woman who started the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and donated the Frick Fine Arts building to the University, acquired this collection with the help of critic and connoisseur, Bernard Berenson. She then donated it to the University of Pittsburgh to adorn the walls of this cloister.
Mary Logan Berenson, "A Reconstructor of Old Masterpieces", The American Magazine of Art. (November 1930), pp. 628-638.
Zoa Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters", The Christian Science Monitor, Weekly Magazine section. (October 31, 1934), pp. 8-9; ill. p. 8.
Zoe Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters: Nicholas Lochoff - captures aura of antiquity in exact copies of Italy's fading treasures". (1934)
Edgar Peters Bowron, "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). pp. 131, not repr.
"[Unidentified article]". Fogg Art Museum Notes. Fogg Art Museum. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
"A Copy of Gozzoli's Masterpiece". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "Preserving the Old Masters by Copying", Transcript (December 31, 1930). p.5, reproduced b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "A Reconstructor of Old Masterpieces", The American Magazine of Art. (November 1930). pp. 628-638.
Royal Cortissoz. "Their Appeal to Lovers of our True Tradition". New York Herald Tribune. New York, NY. (March 15, 1931). p.8
Maurice Grosser. "Painter's Progress". C.N. Potter. New York, NY. (1971). Reproduced. p.32, fig. 10.
Edgar Peters Bowron. "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard University Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). p.110.
Marylynne Pitz. "Rare murals being restored in Pitt fine arts building". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (May 25, 2003).
Bill Homisak. "Fabulous Renaissance fakes at Frick offer faux fun". Tribune-Review. (August 27, 1989).
Jonathon Keats. "Forged: Why Fakes Are the Great Art of Our Age". Oxford University Press. (2013).
Zoa Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters", The Christian Science Monitor, Weekly Magazine section. (October 31, 1934), pp. 8-9; ill. p. 8.
Zoe Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters: Nicholas Lochoff - captures aura of antiquity in exact copies of Italy's fading treasures". (1934)
Edgar Peters Bowron, "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). pp. 131, not repr.
"[Unidentified article]". Fogg Art Museum Notes. Fogg Art Museum. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
"A Copy of Gozzoli's Masterpiece". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "Preserving the Old Masters by Copying", Transcript (December 31, 1930). p.5, reproduced b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "A Reconstructor of Old Masterpieces", The American Magazine of Art. (November 1930). pp. 628-638.
Royal Cortissoz. "Their Appeal to Lovers of our True Tradition". New York Herald Tribune. New York, NY. (March 15, 1931). p.8
Maurice Grosser. "Painter's Progress". C.N. Potter. New York, NY. (1971). Reproduced. p.32, fig. 10.
Edgar Peters Bowron. "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard University Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). p.110.
Marylynne Pitz. "Rare murals being restored in Pitt fine arts building". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (May 25, 2003).
Bill Homisak. "Fabulous Renaissance fakes at Frick offer faux fun". Tribune-Review. (August 27, 1989).
Jonathon Keats. "Forged: Why Fakes Are the Great Art of Our Age". Oxford University Press. (2013).
Please note that cataloging is ongoing and that some information may not be complete.
Italians
Renaissance
Cloisters
Architectural decorations and ornaments
Tempera paintings
Umbrian
Portraits
Renaissance
Cloisters
Architectural decorations and ornaments
Tempera paintings
Umbrian
Portraits